The Cateye Café, an old-school, cat-themed diner complete with cat-eye glasses on the windowsills, is one of those Bozeman fixtures that flies slightly under the radar. It’s tucked between Main and Mendenhall at 23 North Tracy in a 1,600a-square foot art deco building, previously occupied by Audrey’s Pizza Oven. Built in 1909 to house the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company, the building has been home to the Cateye Café since around the turn of this century, and is proudly owned and operated by the Caracciolo family. Longtime Bozemanites know the Caracciolo’s storied Bozeman restaurant history, from Kevin’s days at John Bozeman’s Bistro and at Spanish Peaks, to their family’s operation of Damasco’s Pizzeria and Spaghetteria in Belgrade, to today’s Cateye Café.

For my money, Bozeman’s homiest breakfast and best selection of lunch options (weekdays only) are served up at the Cateye. It’s also not a bad place to work; somewhere I still have my “Katiedid” nametag and copy of “The Way of the Cateye” from many moons ago. The place has maintained its kitty-centric décor and personal touches over the years, with family pictures and cat-themed art adorning the brick walls. I spoke with Kelsey Caracciolo (“Stella”), co-owner with her father Kevin, about the ins and outs of the Cateye over the past 21 years.

Katie Thomas: How was the Cateye changed when you acquired it?

Kelsey Caracciolo: The main thing we wanted to do was to make it more friendly; more of a family atmosphere. We wanted it to have a good personality and a cute, sassy, fun attitude. Another one of my dad’s biggest goals was to add more menu items, more unique items, and more sides — a little bit of everything.

He and my mom also wanted more of our family traditions reflected in the menu. My mom was a Montana-raised woman, and my dad is Italian, from the east coast. His favorite sandwich, the Felix, is named after his uncle Felix, who was born and raised in Italy. The Elmer was named for some family friends, and the Tomcat is for my mom. So they blended their traditional family comfort foods to make the menu more distinct to them personally, with things like prosciutto and pork belly.

KT: What would you like people to experience when they walk through your doors?

KC: We would like customers to feel welcomed, as if they are walking into our home. Because we are a family-owned business, it’s important to us that all our customers and staff feel like family. Also, we want people to bask in the amazing aromas of our food filtering throughout — we want you to smell that bacon and French toast. And, of course, to enjoy our quirky décor.

KT: What makes the Cateye unique in the Bozeman food scene?

KC: I think there are many things. Our quaint, cozy atmosphere. We have no computer system; we do hand-written tickets. Customers make friends with each other while they wait for a table, because of the personal, festive environment. We feel it’s one of a kind; there’s nothing else in Bozeman like the Cateye. We have staff that have been with us for many years, which contributes to the family feeling, and we’re very committed to quality, service, presentation, and consistency… while having fun!


KT: What menu items do regulars keep coming back for?

KC: I’d say the BBFT (Banana Bread French Toast), biscuits and gravy, and proper eggs. Whether it’s over-medium, over-easy, or basted, people will come back and say, ‘that was the best egg I ever had.’ We also have a lot of people who come for our pancakes. We make huge, homemade batches of buttermilk batter. The Cateye is comfort food at its finest.

And I think people come for our daily specials. We try to ask ourselves, what do the people want today? We’re thinking about the customer. What are they in the mood for; what do they want that’s different? So we’re always looking for new ideas, and trying to be creative. The chefs come up with different things, and sometimes the servers have good ideas — they see what people like.



KT: Do you have a favorite menu item?

KC: My favorite is the corned beef hash. It’s slow-cooked for 24 hours and then pulled. Sometimes it’s hard because I’m celiac, and I love our menu, but this is a safe place for that, because we don’t have a fryer. Everything is baked in the oven, cooked to order. My dad’s favorite is the Felix, like I mentioned — the roasted prosciutto, gouda, spinach, fried egg, and roasted red pepper aioli. And our secret Cateye seasoning! We season all our over-hard eggs with it.

KT: What do you enjoy most about being part of the downtown Bozeman restaurant community?

KC: We’re the OG! We love the heritage and longevity of our building, our business, and the community – it’s truly enjoyable serving the local people downtown. When you do this for such a long time, you get to know so many folks. We know you as “Grapefruit Mimosa” (writer’s note: GUILTY), so we’ll say, “Grapefruit Mimosa is here” or “Table 3 is Fishbowl guy” or “Alley guy is here! Bacon OE is here!”

We also get to meet fascinating people from all around the world. We get lots of visitors. I love it when customers come in and tell me that one of the nearby hotels sent them in for breakfast or lunch. It’s even more amazing when people come back and tell us that they’ve been here all week, and this was the best food, or best service, or best atmosphere they’ve experienced that whole time.


KT: Is there anything coming up that you would like readers to know about?

KC: In the future, we’ll be doing more wine dinners — we used to do them monthly, but we took a break and hope to get back to it. If you follow us on social media, you’ll be in the loop. Stay tuned!

KT: What else would you like readers to know about the Cateye?

KC: We have a lot of gratitude. Just knowing that we’re a staple in the community is a really big thing, and it’s finally sunk in after 21 years that the Cateye truly is a staple. We appreciate the regulars who continue to contribute to our family business; we wouldn’t be here without the local community and support. Our regular customers, as well as visitors from all over that come to the Cateye, have really made the past 21 years of our family-run business pretty fulfilling.

And we want people to remember my mom, “Mama T,” whose strength and legacy has kept us going through thick and thin. People really supported us through the hardships of losing Mama T during Covid, and her strength has lived through my dad and myself in the hardest times. She would have been 57 last month. So we’re thankful for the enduring support we’ve experienced in the community, our historic building, and just the love of the Caracciolo family. 

For the eclectic and purrrrfect breakfast or lunch experience, stop into the Cateye Café.